INTERPOL is the world’s largest international police organization, with 190 member countries. Our role is to enable police around the world to work together to make the world a safer place. Our high-tech infrastructure of technical and operational support helps meet the growing challenges of fighting crime in the 21st century.

This is where you will find the latest news and multimedia from INTERPOL. Read our news stories and speeches; see the Organization in action through videos and photo galleries; and download our fact sheets, brochures and annual reports.

Our global police communications channels and internationally recognized alert systems allow police around the world to share data instantly and securely. A 24-hour contact point and specialized teams provide targeted support to serious crime or disaster incidents.

Boosting national and regional security focus of INTERPOL Chief’s visit to Madagascar

ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar – On his first official mission to Madagascar INTERPOL Secretary General Ronald K. Noble met with senior officials to review national and regional crime threats, and identify opportunities to enhance the country’s global law enforcement cooperation via INTERPOL.

Mr Noble’s discussions with Minister of Interior Security Arsène Rakotondrazaka focused in particular on building national police capacity and extending the use of INTERPOL’s global law enforcement tools and services beyond its National Central Bureau (NCB) in Antananarivo to frontline officers, so as to better fight crimes such as human and drugs trafficking or maritime piracy.

“With globalization, crime has become more and more complex. Today organized criminals cross borders physically and virtually with such speed that they challenge the capacity of law enforcement at the national level. INTERPOL is the only organization that can connect police worldwide to prevent and fight these serious forms of emerging transborder crime," said Minister of Interior Security Rakotondrazaka.

“International police cooperation is strengthened and INTERPOL’s assistance to its member countries is significantly more effective when INTERPOL’s global tools are placed directly in the hands of frontline police,” said Secretary General Noble.

INTERPOL’s global secure communication network I-24/7 links together more than 23,000 users worldwide across its 190 member countries, allowing access to more than 45 million police records ranging from wanted individuals and lost and stolen travel documents to fingerprints and DNA records which are shared by member countries and stored in INTERPOL databases.

With these databases searched one billion times worldwide in 2012, Mr Noble highlighted during his visit the potential that these databases bring for the work of law enforcement and judicial bodies.

In this respect the Secretary General highlighted Madagascar’s involvement in INTERPOL’s Project EVEXI (Evidence Exploitation Initiative), aiming to establish procedures for building the capacity of six East African countries (Kenya, Madagascar, Maldives, Oman, the Seychelles and Tanzania) in maritime piracy intelligence gathering and forensic evidence collection.

Madagascar is also one of 62 member countries to have officially recognized INTERPOL’s Travel Document, intended to enable INTERPOL officials and police to travel internationally on official INTERPOL business without requiring a visa when assisting in transnational investigations or urgent deployments.

“It is important for INTERPOL and Madagascar’s law enforcement authorities to continue building on their collaboration against transnational crime so that the region and the country, its citizens and visitors reap the benefits from active involvement in international police cooperation,” added Secretary General Noble.

In addition to visiting INTERPOL’s NCB during his visit, Mr Noble also met with the Director General of the Ministry of Public Security, Johnson Rakotondratsima Désiré; Director of Judicial Police Marcel Velotsara; Director of Intelligence Services Mamy Jean Jacques Andrianisa; and Financial Police Director Modeste Rorony.

Secretary General Noble’s first official mission to Madagascar represented the 169th country he officially visited since first elected Secretary General in 2000, so as to learn first-hand the needs of member countries and identify ways that INTERPOL can help them keep their citizens safe.